Stories That Spark Change: An Evening with Graphic Novelist Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez
Free to attend
In-Person at the Discovery Center | Directions
Virtual via Zoom. Link will be sent to registered participants
Join the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Latinos in Philanthropy employee resource group and the Gates Foundation Discovery Center for an inspiring evening with acclaimed writer, artist, and philanthropist, Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, as we celebrate Latine/Hispanic Heritage Month.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez is renowned not only for his groundbreaking work as the creator of La Borinqueña, an original Puerto Rican superhero, but also for his tireless commitment to social causes. Through the lens of his superhero, Edgardo has raised awareness and funds for humanitarian efforts, particularly in support of Puerto Rico’s recovery and resilience. His work extends beyond the island, touching on critical issues such as child development, women’s health, agriculture, and environmental justice.
This special event will feature a compelling conversation between Edgardo and Isabel Muñoz-Colón, Senior Program Officer at the Gates Foundation’s WA State Initiative. Together, they will delve into the transformative power of storytelling, the importance of representation in media, and the rich cultural heritage that informs Edgardo’s work. The discussion will also highlight how his artistic endeavors intersect with pressing global issues like climate change, education, and gender equality, illustrating how art can be a catalyst for social change and community empowerment.
The evening will be enriched with vibrant Puerto Rican music by Otoqui Reyes e Hijos de Agüeybaná and authentic catering by OSJ International. We are proud to partner with Movimiento Afrolatino Seattle and other community organizations to bring this event to life.
Event Partners include: Casa Latina, El Centro de la Raza, Lake City Collective, and UW Clean Energy Institute.
Event Schedule
- 4 p.m. Doors open at the Discovery Center
- 4:15 p.m. Virtual event link goes live
- 4:15-5 p.m. Enjoy music by Otoqui Reyes e Hijos de Agüeybaná, grab a bite to eat from OSJ International, and explore the galleries and visit partner tables.
- 5-6 p.m. The program begins in the Welcome Gallery
- 6-7 p.m. Book signing, explore the galleries and visit partner tables.
Music by: Otoqui Reyes e Hijos de Agüeybaná
Hijos de Agüeybaná is directed by Otoqui Reyes consists of eight artists, all committed to preserving their Afro-Caribbean roots. The group has over ten years of experience both of performing and offering workshops and courses on the historical and cultural significance of the genre of bomba.
Q&A with Edgardo
Want to know more about our speaker? Ahead of the event, Edgardo spoke to the Discovery Center about his work and the superpowers we all have inside of us.
Discovery Center: You are a graphic novelist and a philanthropist. How do you wind up pairing those fields?
Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez: I am a working, middle-class artist living in a modest apartment in Brooklyn. But I have experienced abject poverty. So, the idea of philanthropy comes from a place of social justice. It comes from a place of activism.
I came up with the idea of storytelling to truly create a tool that would not only advocate for social issues but could also become a tool for philanthropy. My wife/partner Kyung Jeon-Miranda came up with the idea of creating a fund. She had the vision to say, “We don’t know when we’ll ever be able to raise this kind of money ever again.” Our second book “Ricanstruction,” a team-up with DC Comics, ended up becoming a No. 1 bestseller for four months on amazon.com, and it helped us raise about $150,000. With that, we created a fund, and we started awarding grants to nonprofits in Puerto Rico.
DC: As an artist and creator of color, what challenges have you faced? How have you overcome them?
EMR: The biggest challenge is that I have to independently publish my own stories. When we initially came up with the idea of developing “La Borinqueña,” we went through a very traditional way of approaching publishers. But I also wanted to create a pop cultural project that would bring mainstream audiences into this discourse that really was never happening in comic book storytelling space.
Nobody was interested, so we had to figure out how to do this ourselves. From the outset, we started receiving public funding: the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. As someone who’s been doing this independently, we’ve always struggled to find shelf space for our books. So, we’ve had to constantly create new models. I think that the mere fact that we independently publish our books is not necessarily something we set out to do, but it’s something that we have to do.
DC: Why did you choose to tell the story of a female superhero?
EMR: I always was drawn to Puerto Rico and its feminist energy, its feminine energy, its matriarchal energy. I always wanted the hero to be a woman.
As I started doing a deeper dive into Puerto Rican history and mythology, I learned the Tainos, who were the Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles, believed in a creation myth where the supreme being was a goddess who created the universe. And in the nationalist revolutionary history of Puerto Rico, most of the leaders of these movements were women.
DC: Let’s say La Borinqueña could transform from make believe into a real superhero, an actual person. What would you ask her to do?
ERM: I would ask her to do what she already does: to serve as an icon for inspiration, to remind us that we have the power within ourselves to make the world better–and that power within us is a superpower. The power to be charitable, the power to speak out against injustice, the power to be involved, the power to work alongside one another, to guarantee that we have a better society today and guarantee that that better society today gives us a better reality for our future tomorrow.
[This interview has been edited for clarity.]